Excellence in Conservation, Fighting Plastic Pollution

1 – The Nature Conservancy and Michigan Agri-Business Association have presented an Excellence in Conservation Award to three staff members of Helena Agri-Enterprises.

The recognition is for helping farmers implement conservation practices in the Saginaw Bay watershed.

Since 2015, the Conservancy and Association have led a Regional Conservation Partnership Project to help Saginaw Valley farmers use agricultural conservation practices to build healthy soil and reduce sediment and excessive nutrients from entering Saginaw Bay and the Great Lakes.

The conservancy says Helena Agri-Enterprises was one of the first supporters of the program and has been responsible for helping enroll 4,000 acres of practices, resulting in about 21 million gallons of groundwater replenished to the system annually and nearly 1,000 pounds of phosphorus and 200 tons of soil retained on farms and kept out of waterways.

Helena Agri-Enterprises is headquartered in Tennessee but has branch locations across the country, including in Brighton, Michigan.

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2 – SC Johnson has joined a global partnership to help address plastic pollution.

The World Economic Forum estimates that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 due to the way that plastic is produced, used and disposed of around the world.

SC Johnson makes Ziploc bags in a Bangor Township plant. The company says it’s working to encourage other businesses to adopt sustainable practices.

The company announced a series of commitments last year to further reduce its plastic footprint.

Efforts include boosting recycled plastic content in its packaging, supporting reuse of plastic bottles through concentrated refills and launching an effort to make Ziploc bags recyclable at the curb.